Integrating an institution's radiology information system with its PACS is crucial to any successful digital image management installation. But accomplishing the task isn’t always easy. Enter Riptide Technologies, which says its customers can skip the whole process with the Advanced Radiology Image and Information System (ARIIS).
Launched earlier this week, ARIIS combines information systems, image storage and distribution, scheduling, billing, and report creation on a single system, according to Gene Thomas, CEO of the New Orleans-based vendor.
"We’ve taken four radiology workflow disciplines -- RIS, PACS, transcription, and billing -- and integrated them into one Internet-based product," he said. "You can get one solution from one vendor instead of going through several firms and worrying about the integration process."
The Windows NT and extensible markup language (XML)-based ARIIS works as a Web portal, allowing healthcare institutions to automate many radiology department processes. To order an imaging study, clinicians can order the exam online by visiting the radiology department's Web site.
After an exam has been ordered, the imaging procedure is scheduled automatically, based on user-defined parameters such as length of imaging time, etc. At this point, the system automatically begins pre-fetching prior studies. When the current images arrive in the network, the system sets up "hanging" protocols on the workstation corresponding to the particular radiologist’s preferences, according to Riptide.
"The radiologist can get the current study, voice-dictate it, and marry that .wav file to the report," he said. "They can store the patient’s profile, and also e-mail and fax [the report] to the referring physician if they choose."
Riptide has embedded Dragon Systems’ NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software in ARIIS.
Riptide executives also point to ARIIS's security benefits. Thanks to an agreement with Intel Authentication Services, ARIIS includes Intel’s real-time physician identity authentication services. The service uses digital certificates and Internet IDs issued to physicians by the American Medical Association, according to Riptide. ARIIS also features 128-bit secure socket layer (SSL) encryption. Riptide believes these security features will put institutions using the technology on solid footing with the privacy and security provisions of the upcoming U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
XML is also scalable, and allows information to be shared seamlessly with other Web sites and databases regardless of variations in software coding styles, according to Jim Maughan, senior vice president. In contrast to HTML, XML uses tags, or codes, that describe the text, simplifying the exchange of information, he said.
The XML language is already in use in many e-commerce software systems, offering enhanced interoperability between different vendors’ information systems, Maughan said.
"The use of XML also offers a lot of potential in medicine," he said. "The proposed next version of HL-7 is based on XML. When approved, HL-7 3.0 will allow two different XML-compliant information systems to interact and exchange information without using an interface."
XML also allows more efficient use of thin-client applications, compared with more cumbersome techniques such as Java, he said.
ARIIS will be available to customers via an application specific provider (ASP) model, with a cost per procedure ranging from $15 to $20, depending on imaging volume, according to the company. For on-site image storage, Riptide will install redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) with digital linear tape (DLT) jukeboxes for backup storage, Thomas said. If a customer prefers, Riptide can also support magneto-optical disks (MOD) or CD storage, he said. The company is also evaluating off-site storage alternatives as part of its ASP offering.
Riptide is currently selling ARIIS directly, but is open to OEM or distributor arrangements, Thomas said. Riptide is focusing its energies on the U.S. marketplace initially, but does plan to bring ARIIS to market abroad in the future.
Beta testing for ARIIS has taken place at Riverside Hospital in Franklinton, LA. Two other customers are in the process of implementing ARIIS, one of which is a multisite imaging center network, according to the company.
Riptide was founded in 1997 by Dr. Richard Ferrans, an internal medicine physician and formerly chief of telemedicine and informatics at Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans, and by Perry Schwalb, former CIO at LSU Medical School.
By Erik L. RidleyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
October 20, 2000
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